Johann
05-27-2011, 02:18 PM
TIME WOUNDS ALL HEELS
This was an absolutely incredible film, an almost perfect essay on Power, Politics and Civil Rights.
The archival footage and interviews are stellar. Interviewees include former Nixon administration officials,former FBI G-men, Yoko Ono, Noam Chomsky, George McGovern, Dr. Angela Davis, Bobby Seale, Tommy Smothers, Gore Vidal, Vietnam Veteran Ron Kovic, Mario Cuomo, Geraldo Rivera, and Walter Cronkite.
We see just how much of a threat to Nixon John Lennon really was.
The film basically takes us back to the mid-60's when Lennon starts to break away from his Beatle life and begin an avant-garde artists' attempt to change the world: world peace, social activism, anti-Vietnam protests "PROTEST is PATRIOTIC!, and using his huge media status to help, such as giant billboards declaring WAR IS OVER! (if you want it) and creating a song to free John Sinclair from prison.
Which got him out! HUZZAH!
While watching this I wondered why we don't have the kinds of movements to change the world like they had back in the 60's.
They really tried to change the world for the better. Many people did not want that "fucking war" in southeast Asia.
The Nixon administration was abominable.
Nixon used the FBI as a political police force, which was all about "disruption of the other side", anyone perceived as a threat was immediately susceptible to a probe, wiretaps or an investigation.
John Lennon was a writer, singer/songwriter and intellectual with some serious Sway.
The media paid attention to everything he did, so he decided (with his Love, Yoko) to use the media to advance world peace.
Actual former FBI agents in the film say that what they did under Nixon was "Horrible. We were being used by the government to stop dissent. Plain and simple."
FBI director J. Edgar Hoover wanted to hear that agents were neutralizing perceived threats, that they were "preserving a Heritage of Freedom", whatever that meant...
John Lennon was "a high profile individual, so his activities were being monitored", according to Fuckhead G. Gordon Liddy, a Nixon minion who is also a talking head in the doc. I hate that fucking guy. He doesn't have any remorse for his role. He just states shit like it's de facto, such as the Kent State killings on May 4, 1970: (paraphrasing) "What did they think was going to happen? 18 year-olds without a clue challenging 18-year-olds with guns and uniforms in the National Guard". Thanks for that illuminating piece of info, Gordon....
Noam Chomsky: It was very serious. It reached as far as political assassination. The Gestapo-style assassination of a Black Panther organizer in Chicago: FRED HAMPTON.
The chants of "THE WORLD IS WATCHING" from the DNC in '68 was powerful for me. What a time in America...
John Lennon was planning to hold concerts , kind of "Political Woodstocks", if you will, at the behest of "friends" of his that the Nixon government did not like at all. Guys like Jerry Rubin and Bobby Seale and Abbie Hoffman. That's one thing made clear with this film: John Lennon made friends with the wrong people- it wasn't his music that bothered Nixon so much. It was the company he was keeping.
Plus songs like "I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier, Mama" and "Give Peace a Chance" didn't win him any more supporters in the White House.
As Gore Vidal so eloquently put it:
"Give Peace a Chance" is a frightening thing to hear for those who want to hear "The Battle Hymn of the Republic"
and George McGovern:
GIVE PEACE A CHANCE! Who can oppose that? Well, the Nixon Administration opposed that.
John & Yoko were publicly anti-Nixon and they were not Americans, living in NYC. This incensed Nixon and all in the government. Their line was "You don't like America? Go back to England! Go back to Liverpool!" They tried to deport John. What a wild "game" that was, with Lennon ultimately prevailing, telling a reporter "TIME WOUNDS ALL HEELS".
I Loved that.
"The Solution to the Pollution is a People's Human Revolution!"- Bobby Seale, chairman of the Black Panther party.
Dr. Angela Davis (Love Her!) said something very illuminating:
Anyone involved in any type of "movement" that challenged the government in any way was aware of the extent to which the FBI tapped people's phones, engaged in widespread surveillance and abused the legal system.
This film shows that paranoia and fear gripped the Nixon admin.
John Lennon was defending and joining forces with people that Nixon wanted to throw in jail.
So he was tracked.
For a LONG time.
John said to a friend at one point: IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO YOKO AND ME IT WASN'T AN ACCIDENT.
He knew.
and he did not back down.
Lennon held his ground like a motherfucker.
Watch this film and admire that Artist/Man/Genius with all you got.
He was one of a kind.
This was an absolutely incredible film, an almost perfect essay on Power, Politics and Civil Rights.
The archival footage and interviews are stellar. Interviewees include former Nixon administration officials,former FBI G-men, Yoko Ono, Noam Chomsky, George McGovern, Dr. Angela Davis, Bobby Seale, Tommy Smothers, Gore Vidal, Vietnam Veteran Ron Kovic, Mario Cuomo, Geraldo Rivera, and Walter Cronkite.
We see just how much of a threat to Nixon John Lennon really was.
The film basically takes us back to the mid-60's when Lennon starts to break away from his Beatle life and begin an avant-garde artists' attempt to change the world: world peace, social activism, anti-Vietnam protests "PROTEST is PATRIOTIC!, and using his huge media status to help, such as giant billboards declaring WAR IS OVER! (if you want it) and creating a song to free John Sinclair from prison.
Which got him out! HUZZAH!
While watching this I wondered why we don't have the kinds of movements to change the world like they had back in the 60's.
They really tried to change the world for the better. Many people did not want that "fucking war" in southeast Asia.
The Nixon administration was abominable.
Nixon used the FBI as a political police force, which was all about "disruption of the other side", anyone perceived as a threat was immediately susceptible to a probe, wiretaps or an investigation.
John Lennon was a writer, singer/songwriter and intellectual with some serious Sway.
The media paid attention to everything he did, so he decided (with his Love, Yoko) to use the media to advance world peace.
Actual former FBI agents in the film say that what they did under Nixon was "Horrible. We were being used by the government to stop dissent. Plain and simple."
FBI director J. Edgar Hoover wanted to hear that agents were neutralizing perceived threats, that they were "preserving a Heritage of Freedom", whatever that meant...
John Lennon was "a high profile individual, so his activities were being monitored", according to Fuckhead G. Gordon Liddy, a Nixon minion who is also a talking head in the doc. I hate that fucking guy. He doesn't have any remorse for his role. He just states shit like it's de facto, such as the Kent State killings on May 4, 1970: (paraphrasing) "What did they think was going to happen? 18 year-olds without a clue challenging 18-year-olds with guns and uniforms in the National Guard". Thanks for that illuminating piece of info, Gordon....
Noam Chomsky: It was very serious. It reached as far as political assassination. The Gestapo-style assassination of a Black Panther organizer in Chicago: FRED HAMPTON.
The chants of "THE WORLD IS WATCHING" from the DNC in '68 was powerful for me. What a time in America...
John Lennon was planning to hold concerts , kind of "Political Woodstocks", if you will, at the behest of "friends" of his that the Nixon government did not like at all. Guys like Jerry Rubin and Bobby Seale and Abbie Hoffman. That's one thing made clear with this film: John Lennon made friends with the wrong people- it wasn't his music that bothered Nixon so much. It was the company he was keeping.
Plus songs like "I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier, Mama" and "Give Peace a Chance" didn't win him any more supporters in the White House.
As Gore Vidal so eloquently put it:
"Give Peace a Chance" is a frightening thing to hear for those who want to hear "The Battle Hymn of the Republic"
and George McGovern:
GIVE PEACE A CHANCE! Who can oppose that? Well, the Nixon Administration opposed that.
John & Yoko were publicly anti-Nixon and they were not Americans, living in NYC. This incensed Nixon and all in the government. Their line was "You don't like America? Go back to England! Go back to Liverpool!" They tried to deport John. What a wild "game" that was, with Lennon ultimately prevailing, telling a reporter "TIME WOUNDS ALL HEELS".
I Loved that.
"The Solution to the Pollution is a People's Human Revolution!"- Bobby Seale, chairman of the Black Panther party.
Dr. Angela Davis (Love Her!) said something very illuminating:
Anyone involved in any type of "movement" that challenged the government in any way was aware of the extent to which the FBI tapped people's phones, engaged in widespread surveillance and abused the legal system.
This film shows that paranoia and fear gripped the Nixon admin.
John Lennon was defending and joining forces with people that Nixon wanted to throw in jail.
So he was tracked.
For a LONG time.
John said to a friend at one point: IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO YOKO AND ME IT WASN'T AN ACCIDENT.
He knew.
and he did not back down.
Lennon held his ground like a motherfucker.
Watch this film and admire that Artist/Man/Genius with all you got.
He was one of a kind.